FLOSS Project Planets

Join us THURSDAY, May 16 at 1pm ET / 10am PT, for our regularly scheduled call to chat about all things Drupal and nonprofits. (Convert to your local time zone.)

This month we'll be recapping DrupalCon Portland and the Nonprofit Summit!

And we'll of course also have time to discuss anything else that's on our minds at the intersection of Drupal and nonprofits.  Got something specific you want to talk about? Feel free to share ahead of time in our collaborative Google doc: https://nten.org/drupal/notes!

All nonprofit Drupal devs and users, regardless of experience level, are always welcome on this call.

This free call is sponsored by NTEN.org and open to everyone. 

• Join the call: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81817469653

  • Meeting ID: 818 1746 9653
    Passcode: 551681

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  • Find your local number: https://us02web.zoom.us/u/kpV1o65N

• Follow along on Google Docs: https://nten.org/drupal/notes

View notes of previous months' calls.

Libtoolers!

The Libtool Team is pleased to announce the release of libtool 2.5.0, a alpha release.

GNU Libtool hides the complexity of using shared libraries behind a
consistent, portable interface. GNU Libtool ships with GNU libltdl, which
hides the complexity of loading dynamic runtime libraries (modules)
behind a consistent, portable interface.

There have been 91 commits by 29 people in the 113 weeks since 2.4.7.

See the NEWS below for a brief summary.

Thanks to everyone who has contributed!
The following people contributed changes to this release:

  Albert Chu (1)
  Alex Ameen (3)
  Antonin Décimo (3)
  Brad Smith (2)
  Bruno Haible (2)
  Dmitry Antipov (1)
  Florian Weimer (1)
  Gilles Gouaillardet (1)
  Ileana Dumitrescu (24)
  Jakub Wilk (1)
  Jonathan Wakely (2)
  Manoj Gupta (1)
  Mike Frysinger (23)
  Mingli Yu (2)
  Oliver Kiddle (1)
  Olly Betts (1)
  Ozkan Sezer (2)
  Paul Eggert (2)
  Paul Green (1)
  Raul E Rangel (1)
  Richard Purdie (5)
  Sam James (4)
  Samuel Thibault (1)
  Stephen Webb (1)
  Tijl Coosemans (1)
  Tim Rice (1)
  Uwe Kleine-König (1)
  Vadim Zeitlin (1)
  Xiang.Lin (1)

Ileana
 [on behalf of the libtool maintainers]
==================================================================

Here is the GNU libtool home page:
    https://gnu.org/s/libtool/

For a summary of changes and contributors, see:
  https://git.sv.gnu.org/gitweb/?p=libtool.git;a=shortlog;h=v2.5.0
or run this command from a git-cloned libtool directory:
  git shortlog v2.4.7..v2.5.0

Here are the compressed sources:
  https://alpha.gnu.org/gnu/libtool/libtool-2.5.0.tar.gz   (1.9MB)
  https://alpha.gnu.org/gnu/libtool/libtool-2.5.0.tar.xz   (1008KB)

Here are the GPG detached signatures:
  https://alpha.gnu.org/gnu/libtool/libtool-2.5.0.tar.gz.sig
  https://alpha.gnu.org/gnu/libtool/libtool-2.5.0.tar.xz.sig

Use a mirror for higher download bandwidth:
  https://www.gnu.org/order/ftp.html

Here are the SHA1 and SHA256 checksums:

  fb3ab5907115b16bf12a0d3d424c79cb0003d02e  libtool-2.5.0.tar.gz
  1DjDF0VdhVVM4vmYvkiGb9QM/L+DTWCzAm9PwO1YPSM=  libtool-2.5.0.tar.gz
  70e2dd113a9460c279df01b2eee319adb99ee998  libtool-2.5.0.tar.xz
  fhDMhjgj1AjsX/6kHUPDckqgiBZldXljydsL77LIecw=  libtool-2.5.0.tar.xz

Verify the base64 SHA256 checksum with cksum -a sha256 --check
from coreutils-9.2 or OpenBSD's cksum since 2007.

Use a .sig file to verify that the corresponding file (without the
.sig suffix) is intact.  First, be sure to download both the .sig file
and the corresponding tarball.  Then, run a command like this:

  gpg --verify libtool-2.5.0.tar.gz.sig

The signature should match the fingerprint of the following key:

  pub   rsa4096 2021-09-23 [SC]
        FA26 CA78 4BE1 8892 7F22  B99F 6570 EA01 146F 7354
  uid   Ileana Dumitrescu <ileanadumi95@protonmail.com>
  uid   Ileana Dumitrescu <ileanadumitrescu95@gmail.com>

If that command fails because you don't have the required public key,
or that public key has expired, try the following commands to retrieve
or refresh it, and then rerun the 'gpg --verify' command.

  gpg --locate-external-key ileanadumi95@protonmail.com

  gpg --recv-keys 6570EA01146F7354

  wget -q -O- 'https://savannah.gnu.org/project/release-gpgkeys.php?group=libtool&download=1' | gpg --import -

As a last resort to find the key, you can try the official GNU
keyring:

  wget -q https://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/gnu-keyring.gpg
  gpg --keyring gnu-keyring.gpg --verify libtool-2.5.0.tar.gz.sig

This release was bootstrapped with the following tools:
  Autoconf 2.72e
  Automake 1.16.5
  Gnulib v0.1-6995-g29d705ead1

NEWS

• Noteworthy changes in release 2.5.0 (2024-05-13) [alpha]

** New features:

  - Pass '-fdiagnostics-color', '-frecord-gcc-switches',
    '-fno-sanitize*', '-Werror', and 'prefix-map' flags.

  - Pass the '-no-canonical-prefixes' linker flag.

  - Pass '-fopenmp=*' for Clang to allow choosing between libgomp and
    libomp.

  - Pass '-shared-libsan', '-static-libsan', 'rtlib=*', and
    'unwindlib=*' for Clang.

  - Expanded process.h inclusion on Windows for more than the
    proprietary MSVC compiler. Other alternative Windows compilers
    also require process.h.

  - Pass 'elf32_x86_64' and 'elf64_x86_64' to the linker on hurd-amd64.

  - Recognize --windows* config triplets.

** Important incompatible changes:

  - Removed test_compile from command line options.

  - By default executables are created with the RUNPATH property for
    the Android linker. RUNPATH works for libraries which are not
    installed in system locations.

  - Removed AC_PROG_SED fallback, as the macro has been supported
    in Autoconf since the 90's.

** Bug fixes:

  - Check for space after -l, -L, and -R linker flags.

  - Updated documentation for tests, the demo directory, and
    elsewhere.

  - Fixed Solaris 11 builds.

  - Clean trailing "/" from sysroot path.

  - Fixed shared library builds for System V.

  - Added mingw to the list of systems not requiring libm.

  - Fixed support for nios2 systems.

  - Fixed linker check for '--whole-archive' support for linkers other
    than ld.

  - Use -Fe instead of -o with MSVC to avoid deprecation warnings.

  - Improved reproducibility of libtool scripts.

  - Avoided MinGW warning by adding CRTIMP.

  - Improved grep portability.

  - Fixed cross-building warnings when checking for file.


** Changes in supported systems or compilers:

  - Removed support for bitrig (--bitrig*).

  - Added support for flang (Fortran LLVM-based) compilers.


Enjoy!

Drupal 11 deep dive: watch the recording, present your own (free slides!)

I presented my first ever Drupal 11 deep dive session at DrupalCon Portland 2024 last week. It turned out to not just be about Drupal 11 but also about Starshot and even about Drupal 12 thanks to the coolest future-proofing technology I announced in this talk. Unfortunately not all of the attendees fit in, that wanted to attend, as the room was standing space only and many turned around and left. But here we go!

I strongly believe in open content. I came to open source from open content 24 or so years ago. So in good tradition, I built this slide deck on slides.com in way that is easy to share and fork. You can create your own or present directly from my deck with my speaker notes. The content is licensed with a Creative Commons license. I'll keep updating this slideshow, but under different URLs, so people can catch the latest edition of this presentation at Drupal Devdays Burgas next month for example. See some of you there!

If you can't make it there or plan to present this at your organization or meetup in the meantime, check out the open source slides.

The recording from DrupalCon Portland is below. Unfortunately I was not well prepared with a subtitling set up. I am exploring good tools and will do better next time! The conference tech crew tried to help in the middle of the session, but unfortunately they could not make it work either. At least managed to discuss some current Starshot questions while that was attempted. I promised a video with subtitles, which turns out Youtube nicely delivered, so I will not create a separate recording now. Hope this helps!

Gábor Hojtsy Mon, 05/13/2024 - 21:33

Today we are talking about Certification & Exam Prep, Resources for studying, and tips to get a passing grade with guests Chad Hester & Martin Anderson-Clutz. We’ll also cover Quiz Maker as our module of the week.

For show notes visit: www.talkingDrupal.com/450

Topics

• Why are exams and certifications important to dev's
• After going through the Talking Drupal Skills Upgrade mini series do you feel preparted to take an Acquia certification
• How should someone get ready
• What are some struggles people may have getting ready
• What does the plan look like for someone getting ready
• Does Acquia provide pre tests
• Did Skills Upgrade prepare you for this type of assessment
• What happens if you do not pass
• How do you know you're ready
• Tips and tricks for taking a test
• Where do you take the test
• Questions to someone who has taken the test
• Special surprise

Resources

• Acquia Certification Study Guides
• Acquia Certification Information
• Widgets Burritos D8 Certification Study Guide
• certification@acquia.com for questions

Guests

• Chad Hester - chadkhester.com chadhester
• Martin Anderson-Clutz - mandclu.com mandclu

Hosts

Nic Laflin - nLighteneddevelopment.com nicxvan John Picozzi - epam.com johnpicozzi Matthew Grasmick - grasmash

MOTW Correspondent

Martin Anderson-Clutz - mandclu

• Brief description:
  • Have you ever wanted to build and deliver interactive quizzes on your Drupal website?
• Module name/project name:
  • Quiz Maker
• Brief history
  • How old: created in Apr 2024 (the last couple of weeks) by Roman Chekhaniuk (r_cheh)
  • Versions available: 1.0.5, which works with Drupal 9, 10, and 11
• Maintainership
  • Actively maintained
  • Not yet opted into Security coverage, but being so new it’s possible they started the process of getting the project reviewed
  • Number of open issues: 0
• Usage stats:
  • Not currently installed on any sites yet, according to Drupal.org
  • Module features and usage
  • The module defines a number of of custom entities to allow your site to define very flexible quizzes, that can include options like the amount of time allowed, pass rate, maximum number of attempts, randomizing the sequence of the questions, and more
  • The module also defines custom plugins for questions, responses, and answers, so you can extend it to handle very custom use cases
  • The Quiz module is very popular in this space but the version you can use with modern versions of Drupal is still in alpha, so it’s great to see another option available, especially for sites that don’t need anything as complex as the Opigno LMS

So this is not quite an introduction since the plugin has been around for almost a year now, having been released in the 23.04 release but since I never got around to writing a blog about it, here I am.

In simple words, the formatting plugin allows one to format code easily and quickly. Well the "quickness" depends on the underlying code formatter but we try to be as quick as possible. So far if you wanted to do code formatting from within Kate, the only way to do that was to configure a tool in the External Tools plugin and then invoke it whenever you wanted to format the code. While this works it wasn't great for a few reasons. Firstly, you would loose undo history. Secondly, the buffer would jump and you would most likely loose your current position in the document. Thirdly, for every language you get a different tool and you need to remember the right tool to invoke on the right document type.

To simplify this, I decided to write a plugin that would expose a minimal UI but still provide a lot of features.

There are basically two ways to use this plugin:

• Manually using the "Format Document" action.
• Automatically on save

The correct formatter is invoked based on the document type in all cases. Additionally the plugin will preserve the document's undo history and user's cursor position when formatting the code so that the formatting of code doesn't disrupt user's workflow. This is especially important for automatic formatting on save.

Supported languages:

The current list of supported languages and formatters are as follows:

• C/C++/ObjectiveC/ObjectiveC++/Protobuf
  • clang-format
• Javascript/Typescript/JSX/TSX
  • Prettier
• Json
  • clang-format
  • Prettier
  • jq
• Dart
  • dartfmt
• Rust
  • rustfmt
• XML
  • xmllint
• Go
  • gofmt
• Zig
  • zigfmt
• CMake
  • cmake-format
• Pythong
  • autopep8
  • ruff

Configuring

The plugin can be configured in two ways:

• Globally, from the Configure dialog
• On a per project basis using the .kateproject file

When reading the config, the plugin will first try to read the config from .kateproject file and then read the global config.

Example:

{ "formatOnSave": true, "formatterForJson": "jq", "cmake-format": { "formatOnSave": false }, "autopep8": { "formatOnSave": false } }

The above

• enables "format on save" globally
• specifies "jq" as the formatter for JSON
• disables "format on save" for cmake-format and autopep8

To configure formatting for a project, first create a .kateproject file and then add a "formatting" object to it. In the "formatting" object you can specify your settings as shown in the previous example. Example:

{ "name": "My Cool Project", "files": [ { "git": 1 } ], "formatting": { "formatterForJson": "clang-format", "autopep8": { "formatOnSave": false } } }

We are proud to announce the release of the version 1.5.0 of python-sql.

python-sql is a library to write SQL queries in a pythonic way. It is mainly developed for Tryton but it has no external dependencies and is agnostic to any framework or SQL database.

In addition to bug-fixes, this release contains the following improvements:

• Add MERGE query
• Support “UPSERT” with ON CONFLICT clause on INSERT query
• Remove default escape char on LIKE and ILIKE
• Add GROUPING SETS, CUBE, and ROLLUP clauses for GROUP BY.

python-sql is available on PyPI: python-sql 1.5.0.

2 posts - 2 participants

Read full topic

DrupalCon Portland was a success! Read on to see Chris' reflection on topics at the event such as Contribution Day, Project Browser, and more.

The Matplotlib package is great for visualizing data. One of its many features is the ability to annotate points on your graph. You can use annotations to explain why a particular data point is significant or interesting.

If you haven’t used Matplotlib before, you should check out my introductory article, Matplotlib – An Intro to Creating Graphs with Python or read the official documentation.

Let’s get started!

Installing Matplotlib

If you don’t have Matplotlib on your computer, you must install it. Fortunately, you can use pip, the Python package manager utility that comes with Python.

Open up your terminal or command prompt and run the following command:

python -m pip install matplotlib

Pip will now install Matplotlib and any dependencies that Matplotlib needs to work properly. Assuming that Matplotlib installs successfully, you are good to go!

Annotating Points on a Graph

Matplotlib comes with a handy annotate()method that you can use. As with most of Matplotlib’s methods, annotate()can take quite a few different parameters.

For this example, you will be using the following parameters:

• text – The label for the annotation
• xy – The x/y coordinate of the point of interest
• arrowprops – A dictionary of arrow properties
• xytext – Where to place the text for the annotation

Now that you know what you’re doing, open up your favorite Python IDE or text editor and create a new Python file. Then enter the following code:

import matplotlib.pylab as plt import numpy as np def annotated(): fig = plt.figure(figsize=(8, 6)) numbers = list(range(10)) plt.plot(numbers, np.exp(numbers)) plt.title("Annotating an Exponential Plot using plt.annotate()") plt.xlabel("x-axis") plt.ylabel("y-axis") plt.annotate("Point 1", xy=(6, 400), arrowprops=dict(arrowstyle="->"), xytext=(4, 600)) plt.annotate("Point 2", xy=(7, 1150), arrowprops=dict(arrowstyle="->", connectionstyle="arc3,rad=-.2"), xytext=(4.5, 2000)) plt.annotate("Point 3", xy=(8, 3000), arrowprops=dict(arrowstyle="->", connectionstyle="angle,angleA=90,angleB=0"), xytext=(8.5, 2200)) plt.show() if __name__ == "__main__": annotated()

Here, you are creating a simple line graph. You want to annotate three points on the graph. The arrowprops define the arrowstyleand, in the latter two points, the connectionstyle. These properties tell Matplotlib what type of arrow to use and whether it should be connected to the text as a straight line, an arc, or a 90-degree turn.

When you run this code, you will see the following graph:

You can see how the different points are located and how the arrowprops lines are changed. You should check out the full documentation to learn all the details about the arrows and annotations.

Wrapping Up

Annotating your graph is a great way to make your plots more informative. Matplotlib allows you to add many different labels to your plots, and annotating the interesting data points is quite nice.

You should spend some time experimenting with annotations and learning all the different parameters it takes to fully understand this useful feature.

The post How to Annotate a Graph with Matplotlib and Python appeared first on Mouse Vs Python.

As DrupalCon Portland concludes, The Drop Times extends a heartfelt thank you to the dedicated volunteers and supporting companies whose efforts were pivotal in delivering comprehensive and timely updates to the Drupal community. Join us in celebrating the individuals and teams whose hard work made this event a resounding success.

Lots of agencies want to contribute more to Drupal, but don't have the time due to client work. Let's fix that.

When you develop a self-contained Python script, you might not notice anything unusual about your directory structure. However, as soon as your project becomes more complex, you’ll often decide to extract parts of the functionality into additional modules or packages. That’s when you may start to see a __pycache__ folder appearing out of nowhere next to your source files in seemingly random places:

project/ │ ├── mathematics/ │ │ │ ├── __pycache__/ │ │ │ ├── arithmetic/ │ │ ├── __init__.py │ │ ├── add.py │ │ └── sub.py │ │ │ ├── geometry/ │ │ │ │ │ ├── __pycache__/ │ │ │ │ │ ├── __init__.py │ │ └── shapes.py │ │ │ └── __init__.py │ └── calculator.py

Notice that the __pycache__ folder can be present at different levels in your project’s directory tree when you have multiple subpackages nested in one another. At the same time, other packages or folders with your Python source files may not contain this mysterious cache directory.

Note: To maintain a cleaner workspace, many Python IDEs and code editors are configured out-of-the-box to hide the __pycache__ folders from you, even if those folders exist on your file system.

You may encounter a similar situation after you clone a remote Git repository with a Python project and run the underlying code. So, what causes the __pycache__ folder to appear, and for what purpose?

Get Your Code: Click here to download the free sample code that shows you how to work with the pycache folder in Python.

Take the Quiz: Test your knowledge with our interactive “What Is the __pycache__ Folder in Python?” quiz. You’ll receive a score upon completion to help you track your learning progress:

Interactive Quiz

What Is the __pycache__ Folder in Python?

In this quiz, you'll have the opportunity to test your knowledge of the __pycache__ folder, including when, where, and why Python creates these folders.

In Short: It Makes Importing Python Modules Faster

Even though Python is an interpreted programming language, its interpreter doesn’t operate directly on your Python code, which would be very slow. Instead, when you run a Python script or import a Python module, the interpreter compiles your high-level Python source code into bytecode, which is an intermediate binary representation of the code.

This bytecode enables the interpreter to skip recurring steps, such as lexing and parsing the code into an abstract syntax tree and validating its correctness every time you run the same program. As long as the underlying source code hasn’t changed, Python can reuse the intermediate representation, which is immediately ready for execution. This saves time, speeding up your script’s startup time.

Remember that while loading the compiled bytecode from __pycache__ makes Python modules import faster, it doesn’t affect their execution speed!

Bytecode vs Machine CodeShow/Hide

Why bother with bytecode at all instead of compiling the code straight to the low-level machine code? While machine code is what executes on the hardware, providing the ultimate performance, it’s not as portable or quick to produce as bytecode.

Machine code is a set of binary instructions understood by your specific CPU architecture, wrapped in a container format like EXE, ELF, or Mach-O, depending on the operating system. In contrast, bytecode provides a platform-independent abstraction layer and is typically quicker to compile.

Python uses local __pycache__ folders to store the compiled bytecode of imported modules in your project. On subsequent runs, the interpreter will try to load precompiled versions of modules from these folders, provided they’re up-to-date with the corresponding source files. Note that this caching mechanism only gets triggered for modules you import in your code rather than executing as scripts in the terminal.

In addition to this on-disk bytecode caching, Python keeps an in-memory cache of modules, which you can access through the sys.modules dictionary. It ensures that when you import the same module multiple times from different places within your program, Python will use the already imported module without needing to reload or recompile it. Both mechanisms work together to reduce the overhead of importing Python modules.

Next, you’re going to find out exactly how much faster Python loads the cached bytecode as opposed to compiling the source code on the fly when you import a module.

How Much Faster Is Loading Modules From Cache?

The caching happens behind the scenes and usually goes unnoticed since Python is quite rapid at compiling the bytecode. Besides, unless you often run short-lived Python scripts, the compilation step remains insignificant when compared to the total execution time. That said, without caching, the overhead associated with bytecode compilation could add up if you had lots of modules and imported them many times over.

To measure the difference in import time between a cached and uncached module, you can pass the -X importtime option to the python command or set the equivalent PYTHONPROFILEIMPORTTIME environment variable. When this option is enabled, Python will display a table summarizing how long it took to import each module, including the cumulative time in case a module depends on other modules.

Suppose you had a calculator.py script that imports and calls a utility function from a local arithmetic.py module:

Python calculator.py from arithmetic import add add(3, 4) Copied!

The imported module defines a single function:

Python arithmetic.py def add(a, b): return a + b Copied!

As you can see, the main script delegates the addition of two numbers, three and four, to the add() function imported from the arithmetic module.

Note: Even though you use the from ... import syntax, which only brings the specified symbol into your current namespace, Python reads and compiles the entire module anyway. Moreover, unused imports would also trigger the compilation.

The first time you run your script, Python compiles and saves the bytecode of the module you imported into a local __pycache__ folder. If such a folder doesn’t already exist, then Python automatically creates one before moving on. Now, when you execute your script again, Python should find and load the cached bytecode as long as you didn’t alter the associated source code.

Read the full article at https://realpython.com/python-pycache/ »

[ Improve Your Python With 🐍 Python Tricks 💌 – Get a short & sweet Python Trick delivered to your inbox every couple of days. >> Click here to learn more and see examples ]

A few weeks ago I attended the KDE Goals April 2024 sprint

I was there as part of the Automation & Systematization sprint given my involvement in the release process, the "not very automatized" weekly emails about the status of CI about KDE Gear and KDE Frameworks, etc. but I think that maybe I was there more as "person that has been around a long time, ask me if you have questions about things that are documented through oral tradition"

I didn't end up doing lots of work on sprint topics themselves (though I participated in various discussions, did a bit of pair-programming with Aleix on QML accessibility issues, inspired DavidR to do the QML-text-missing-i18n check that he describes in his blog); instead I cheated a bit and used the sprint to focus on some of the KDE stuff I had a bit on my backlog, creating the KDE Gear release/24.05 branches and lots of MR reviewing and more!

Thanks KDE e.V. for sponsoring the trip, if you would like such events to continue please we need your continued donations

And remember Akademy talk submission period ends in 10 days, send your talk now!

Everyone wants to improve their lives over time, including those areas that make them feel like they are on top of the latest trends and staying caught up on new developments. The same happens with your software too, why fall behind from new updates? Updating your websites, software, and other essential operational business ongoings is important. 

But sometimes what happens is your team doesn’t support this not-so-big task. They believe upgrading the website is pointless because it will look the same. It becomes difficult to convince your team but we got these practical tips so your team will not deny migrating from Drupal 7 to 10. Let’s see how you can convince your team members to migrate to Drupal 10 from Drupal 7. 

IMAP and OAuth2 Integrations with Microsoft 365 2024-05-13, by Dariusz Suchojad

Overview

This is the first in a series of articles about automation of and integrations with Microsoft 365 cloud products using Python and Zato.

We start off with IMAP automation by showing how to create a scheduled Python service that periodically pulls latest emails from Outlook using OAuth2-based connections.

IMAP and OAuth2

Microsoft 365 requires for all IMAP connections to use OAuth2. This can be challenging to configure in server-side automation and orchestration processes so Zato offers an easy way that lets you read and send emails without a need for getting into low-level OAuth2 details.

Consider a common orchestration scenario - a business partner sends automated emails with attachments that need to be parsed, some information needs to be extracted and processed accordingly.

Before OAuth2, an automation process would receive from Azure administrators a dedicated IMAP account with a username and password.

Now, however, in addition to creating an IMAP account, administrators will need to create and configure a few more resources that the orchestration service will use. Note that the password to the IMAP account will never be used.

Administrators need to:

• Register an Azure client app representing your service that uses IMAP
• Grant this app a couple of Microsoft Graph application permissions:
• Mail.ReadWrite
• Mail.Send

Next, administrators need to give you a few pieces of information about the app:

• Application (client) ID
• Tenant (directory) ID
• Client secret

Additionally, you still need to receive the IMAP username (an e-mail address). It is just that you do not need its corresponding password.

In Dashboard

The first step is to create a new connection in your Zato Dashboard - this will establish an OAuth2-using connection that Zato will manage and your Python code will not have to do anything else, all the underlying OAuth2 tokens will keep refreshing as needed, the platform will take care of everything.

Having received the configuration details from Azure administrators, you can open your Zato Dashboard and navigate to IMAP connections:

Fill out the form as below, choosing "Microsoft 365" as the server type. The other type, "Generic IMAP" is used for the classical case of IMAP with a username and password:

Change the secret and click Ping to confirm that the connection is configured correctly:

In Python

Use the code below to receive emails. Note that it merely needs to refer to a connection definition by its name and there is no need for any usage of OAuth2 here:

# -*- coding: utf-8 -*- # Zato from zato.server.service import Service class MyService(Service): def handle(self): # Connect to a Microsoft 365 IMAP connection by its name .. conn = self.email.imap.get('My Automation').conn # .. get all messages matching filter criteria ("unread" by default).. for msg_id, msg in conn.get(): # .. and access each of them. self.logger.info(msg.data)

This is everything that is needed for integrations with IMAP using Microsoft 365 although we can still go further. For instance, to create a scheduled job to periodically invoke the service, go to the Scheduler job in Dashboard:

In this case, we decide to have a job that runs once per hour:

As expected, clicking OK will suffice for the job to start in background. It is as simple as that.

Next steps

• Read more about using Python in API integrations
• Start the tutorial which will guide you how to design and build Python API services for automation and integrations

More blog posts➤

Dear Readers,

Much has happened in a week. The biggest open-source event in North America, DrupalCon Portland 2024 has come to a close. A convergence of technology and community weaving tales of innovations gathering Drupalers worldwide has successfully concluded. Among the many highlights of the DrupalCon Portland 2024, some stole the limelight. The introduction of the Drupal Starshot initiative definitely tops the list!

What is Drupal Starshot?

It is a long overdue strategic overhaul aimed at improving Drupal's functionality and usability.  This project introduces a new "Drupal CMS" that seamlessly integrates core modules with popular community modules through a Recipes API, facilitating easier setups. Additionally, the "Experience Builder" tool, built with React, is designed to enhance page-building capabilities. Dries Buytaert propelled the Drupal Starshot rocket during DrupalCon with the help of John. F. Kennedy's "moonshot" speech. 

"We choose to go to the moon, not because that will be easy, but because it will be hard" - JFK

From learning the Soviet Union had put a man in space, the space war began. It was followed by eight years of failed attempts from the part of the US before they finally succeeded in launching Apollo 11. Dries had chosen the perfect analogy to fuel Drupal Starshot because the competition in the CMS landscape is much similar to that of the space war and failure is not an option. He reiterates that if Drupal needs to stay relevant, it needs to have its moonshot moment and Drupal Starshot is the moonshot Drupal needed.

With Drupal 8, it was more or less like Drupal had abandoned small and mid-websites for enterprise sites, but this has adversely affected its market. Additionally, Drupal's sub-standard page-building capabilities have been finally identified as the primary reason for Drupal's shrinking adoption. Now, there is only one way to go about it, make the fundamental changes urgently enhancing Drupal core with additional components tailored to everyday users of the interface.

The path that has been declared by Dries is easier said than done. But this is a race Drupal can't afford to lose because Drupal has a strong legacy to safeguard. It was born to be open and has been the defender of the open web for the past 23 years.

"Some people feel like we're falling behind, and no one wants our competitors to win because they aim to colonize a web that's less open, more closed, less creative, maybe more expensive, less accessible, and more proprietary." - Dries Buytaert

The web is moving forward it is up to Drupal and its community to decide whether they want to be a part of it. The need for change is evident and Drupal Starshot is the way to a rejuvenation. So join the Drupal Starshot initiative and make your pledge today. A comprehensive and detailed account of Driesnote that introduced Starshot can be found here.

With that let's move on to the important stories of last week.

DrupalCon Portland came up with many insights and announcements. Elma John, our sub-editor has gathered the key insights from DrupalCon Portland 2024. Drupalers are excited about DrupalCon North America  2025 declared to be held in Atlanta from March 24 to March 27. The dates for DrupalCon Singapore have been confirmed: November 18th to 21st, 2024. The event is to be held at the prestigious Pan Pacific Parkroyal Collection in Marina Bay.

Michael Anello, co-owner of DrupalEasy, has received the prestigious 2024 Aaron Winborn Award at DrupalCon Portland 2024. The award, presented by the Drupal Community Working Group, honors individuals who have shown exceptional commitment and contribution to the Drupal community.

The Women in Drupal Luncheon headed by the female stalwarts of Four Kitchens was a huge success. The event titled, "The Lonely Only: Women in Tech and Navigating a Male-Dominated Landscape" featured Sebastianna Skalisky, Laura Johnson, Jenna Harris, and Shanice Ortiz in a compelling discussion about the dimunitive presence of women in the historically made-dominated tech landscape. Most of these women have been the only women in their department and even at their company. For detailed insights into this session, please read my article, "Women in Drupal Luncheon at DrupalCon Portland 2024: A Convergence for Change."

A supportive initiative bloomed at DrupalCon Portland this year, introducing green sunflower lanyards to support individuals with hidden disabilities. These lanyards marked a significant step towards making Drupal events more accessible and comfortable for everyone. 

Jesus Manuel Olivas, CEO of Octahedroid, unveiled a new Headless Drupal content structuring approach improving the balance between developers, site builders, content editors, and marketers at DrupalCon. The system called Drupal as a Composable CMS, introduces three key modules: the Composable Module for better content adaptability, a Decoupled Preview Iframe for real-time content previews, and a Visual Editor for streamlined editing.

In other news, The DropTimes has published a new study revealing a global trend of governments favoring free and open-source software (FOSS) for their official websites. Team TDT analyzed the websites of 194 countries to understand the extent of this trend and uncover which content management systems (CMSs) are preferred for official government communication. Interestingly, Drupal emerged as a top choice when analyzing the top 100 country websites based on popularity (Tranco rank), Additionally, WordPress remains the most widely used FOSS option globally.

Kazima Abbas, a sub-editor with TDT had the opportunity to sit with Tim Hestenes Lehnen, Chief Technology Officer at the Drupal Association and Author of Young Adult Fiction, to talk about his latest novel, 'Fog & Fireflies'. 

DrupalCon Barcelona 2024 Calls for Artists to Enter Drawing Contest. Participants are encouraged to create an original drawing of Mercè, the celebrated figure of Barcelona's annual festival, in any artistic form they prefer. The winning design will earn a spot on the official event stickers, giving artists a unique platform to showcase their work. 

LagoonCon Portland 2024 offered a night of tech insights and connections. The conference featured three sessions dealing with Lagoon, Open Web Alliance, and Large Language Models. The free event also had a Lagoon round table discussion. Read more here. 

Events in the Drupal community are always a matter of celebration. It brings together Drupalers from various walks of life and forms a support system with Drupal at the core. Here is a list of Drupal events you can attend this week.

The 2024 Drupal Developer Survey, led by Michael Richardson, provided a comprehensive overview of the global Drupal community. With 648 developers from 65 countries, including significant contributions from the United States, France, and India, the survey showcased a mature developer base, with 76% aged between 30 and 49.

James Shields has launched the 2024 Drupal Advent Calendar, inviting contributions from the Drupal community. This year's theme, "People of Drupal," aims to highlight individuals who have significantly impacted the Drupal ecosystem. In another update, Promote Drupal committee member Emma Horrell has launched a comprehensive initiative to demystify Drupal's specialized language, known as "Drupalisms," to make the platform more accessible, especially to newcomers. The new initiative is named "De-jargoning Drupal".

1xINTERNET has announced its support for Drupal Starshot, promising to contribute with its expertise in pre-configured Drupal applications. Their existing CMS, Try Drupal, showcases their capabilities and will integrate with Starshot to further enrich the Drupal community and promote widespread adoption.

We acknowledge that there are more stories to share. However, due to selection constraints, we must pause further exploration for now.

To get timely updates, follow us on LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook. Also, join us on Drupal Slack at #thedroptimes.

Thank you,
Sincerely
Alka Elizabeth
Sub-editor, The DropTimes.

A new revision of digiKam Recipes is available for your reading pleasure. The new version covers the auto tagging feature introduced in digiKam 8.3 and explains how to run digiKam in a container. If you bought the book through Gumroad, you’ll find the new revision in the Library section. The book purchased through Google Play should be updated automatically to the latest version. If you have problems getting the latest revision of the book, contact the author at dmpop@cameracode.

Thoughts on Drupal's new Starshot Initiative mherchel Sun, 05/12/2024 - 18:16

The Kubuntu Team are thrilled to announce significant updates to KubuQA, our streamlined ISO testing tool that has now expanded its capabilities beyond Kubuntu to support Ubuntu and all its other flavors. With these enhancements, KubuQA becomes a versatile resource that ensures a smoother, more intuitive testing process for upcoming releases, including the 24.04 Noble Numbat and the 24.10 Oracular Oriole.

What is KubuQA?

KubuQA is a specialized tool developed by the Kubuntu Team to simplify the process of ISO testing. Utilizing the power of Kdialog for user-friendly graphical interfaces and VirtualBox for creating and managing virtual environments, KubuQA allows testers to efficiently evaluate ISO images. Its design focuses on accessibility, making it easy for testers of all skill levels to participate in the development process by providing clear, guided steps for testing ISOs.

New Features and Extensions

The latest update to KubuQA marks a significant expansion in its utility:

• Broader Coverage: Initially tailored for Kubuntu, KubuQA now supports testing ISO images for Ubuntu and all other Ubuntu flavors. This broadened coverage ensures that any Ubuntu-based community can benefit from the robust testing framework that KubuQA offers.
• Support for Latest Releases: KubuQA has been updated to include support for the newest Ubuntu release cycles, including the 24.04 Noble Numbat and the upcoming 24.10 Oracular Oriole. This ensures that communities can start testing early and often, leading to more stable and polished releases.
• Enhanced User Experience: With improvements to the Kdialog interactions, testers will find the interface more intuitive and responsive, which enhances the overall testing experience.

Call to Action for Ubuntu Flavor Leads

The Kubuntu Team is keen to collaborate closely with leaders and testers from all Ubuntu flavors to adopt and adapt KubuQA for their testing needs. We believe that by sharing this tool, we can foster a stronger, more cohesive testing community across the Ubuntu ecosystem.

We encourage flavor leads to try out KubuQA, integrate it into their testing processes, and share feedback with us. This collaboration will not only improve the tool but also ensure that all Ubuntu flavors can achieve higher quality and stability in their releases.

Getting Involved

For those interested in getting involved with ISO testing using KubuQA:

• Download the Tool: You can find KubuQA on the Kubuntu Team Github.
• Join the Community: Engage with the Kubuntu community for support and to connect with other testers. Your contributions and feedback are invaluable to the continuous improvement of KubuQA.

Conclusion

The enhancements to KubuQA signify our commitment to improving the quality and reliability of Ubuntu and its derivatives. By extending its coverage and simplifying the testing process, we aim to empower more contributors to participate in the development cycle. Whether you’re a seasoned tester or new to the community, your efforts are crucial to the success of Ubuntu.

We look forward to seeing how different communities will utilise KubuQA to enhance their testing practices. And by the way, have you thought about becoming a member of the Kubuntu Community? Join us today to make a difference in the world of open-source software!

I've been resisting the Wikipedia ads about “we don't run ads, give us money“ for over a decade now (mostly since WMF already has tons of cash and use very little on it to actually improve Wikipedia), and now they are jumping on the AI/LLM hype. It does not help.

(Of course you should pick your charities yourself. I've donated to Signal Foundation in the past even though I think they could run things somewhat cheaper if they didn't insist on all-cloud, and archive.org is basically, for better or for worse, the collective memory of the Internet by now, at least unless they get bankrupted by the ongoing lawsuit from some overly silly book lending. Not to mention that in a day and age where there's a certain Eurovision-participating country and another banned-from-Eurovision country both causing tons of civilian suffering and casualities these days, perhaps there are non-tech charities that are also important.)

I have not been able to walk since February 18, 2023.

When people ask me how I'm doing, this is the first thing that comes to mind. "Well, you know, the usual, but also I still can't walk," I think to myself.

If I dream at night, I often see myself walking or running. In conversation, if I talk about going somewhere, I'll imagine walking there. Even though it's been over a year, I remember walking to the bus, riding to see my friends, going out for brunch, cooking community dinners.

But these days, I can't manage going anywhere except by car, and I can't do the driving, and I can't dis/assemble and load my chair. When I'm resting in bed and follow a guided meditation, I might be asked to imagine walking up a staircase, step by step. Sometimes, I do. Other times, I imagine taking a little elevator in my chair, or wheeling up ramps.

I feel like there is little I can say that can express the extent of what this illness has taken from me, but it's worth trying. To an able-bodied person, seeing me in a power wheelchair is usually "enough." One of my acquaintances cried when they last saw me in person. But frankly, I love my wheelchair. I am not "wheelchair-bound"—I am bed-bound, and the wheelchair gets me out of bed. My chair hasn't taken anything from me.

***

In October of 2022, I was diagnosed with myalgic encephalomyelitis.

Scientists and doctors don't really know what myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME) is. Diseases like it have been described for over 200 years.1 It primarily affects women between the ages of 10-39, and the primary symptom is "post-exertional malaise" or PEM: debilitating, disproportionate fatigue following activity, often delayed by 24-72 hours and not relieved by sleep. That fatigue has earned the illness the misleading name of "Chronic Fatigue Syndrome" or CFS, as though we're all just very tired all the time. But tired people respond to exercise positively. People with ME/CFS do not.2

Given the dearth of research and complete lack of on-label treatments, you may think this illness is at least rare, but it is actually quite common: in the United States, an estimated 836k-2.5m people3 have ME/CFS. It is frequently misdiagnosed, and it is estimated that as many as 90% of cases are missed,4 due to mild or moderate symptoms that mimic other diseases. Furthermore, over half of Long COVID cases likely meet the diagnostic criteria for ME,5 so these numbers have increased greatly in recent years. That is, ME is at least as common as rheumatoid arthritis,6 another delightful illness I have. But while any doctor knows what rheumatoid arthritis is, not enough7 have heard of "myalgic encephalomylitis."

Despite a high frequency and disease burden, post-viral associated conditions (PASCs) such as ME have been neglected for medical funding for decades.8 Indeed, many people, including medical care workers, find it hard to believe that after the acute phase of illness, severe symptoms can persist. PASCs such as ME and Long COVID defy the typical narrative around common illnesses. I was always told that if I got sick, I should expect to rest for a bit, maybe take some medications, and a week or two later, I'd get better, right? But I never got better.

These are complex, multi-system diseases that do not neatly fit into the Western medical system's specializations. I have seen nearly every specialty because ME/CFS affects nearly every system of the body: cardiology, nephrology, pulmonology, neurology, opthalmology, and, many, many more. You'd think they'd hand out frequent flyer cards, or a medical passport with fun stamps, but nope. Just hundreds of pages of medical records. And when I don't fit neatly into one particular specialist's box, then I'm sent back to my primary care doctor to regroup while we try to troubleshoot my latest concerning symptoms. "Sorry, can't help you. Not my department."

With little available medical expertise, a lot of my disease management has been self-directed in partnership with primary care. I've read hundreds of articles, papers, publications, CME material normally reserved for doctors. It's truly out of necessity, and I'm certain I would be much worse off if I lacked the skills and connections to do this; there are so few ME/CFS experts in the US that there isn't one in my state or any adjacent state.9 So I've done a lot of my own work, much of it while barely being able to read. (A text-to-speech service is a real lifesaver.) To facilitate managing my illness, I've built a mental model of how my particular flavour of ME/CFS works based on the available research I've been able to read and how I respond to treatments. Here is my best attempt to explain it:

• After a severe (non-COVID) infection, an ongoing interaction between my immune system and my metabolism have stopped my body from being able to do aerobic respiration.10
• I don't know why or how, but my mitochondria don't work properly anymore.11
• This means that if I use too much energy, my body isn't able to make enough energy to catch up, and I have severe symptoms over the next few days as my body tries to manage the consequences.
• Those symptoms aren't limited to fatigue: I've developed flu-like symptoms and even fevers, limbs so heavy they felt paralyzed, tachycardia in response to even the slightest activity.

The best way I have learned to manage this is to prevent myself from doing activities where I will exceed that aerobic threshold by wearing a heartrate monitor,12 but the amount of activity that permits in my current state of health is laughably restrictive. Most days I'm unable to spend more than one to two hours out of bed.

Over time, this has meant worsening from a persistent feeling of tiredness all the time and difficulty commuting into an office or sitting at a desk, to being unable to sit at a desk for an entire workday even while working from home and avoiding physically intense chores or exercise without really understanding why, to being unable to leave my apartment for days at a time, and finally, being unable to stand for more than a minute or two or walk.

But it's not merely that I can't walk. Many folks in wheelchairs are able to live excellent lives with adaptive technology. The problem is that I am so fatigued, any activity can destroy my remaining quality of life. In my worst moments, I've been unable to read, move my arms or legs, or speak aloud. Every single one of my limbs burned, as though I had caught fire. Food sat in my stomach for hours, undigested, while my stomach seemingly lacked the energy to do its job. I currently rely on family and friends for full-time caretaking, plus a paid home health aide, as I am unable to prep meals, shower, or leave the house independently. This assistance has helped me slowly improve from my poorest levels of function.

While I am doing better than I was at my worst, I've had to give up essentially all of my hobbies with physical components. These include singing, cooking, baking, taking care of my houseplants, cross-stitching, painting, and so on. Doing any of these result in post-exertional malaise so I've had to stop; this reduction of activity to prevent worsening the illness is referred to as "pacing." I've also had to cut back essentially all of my volunteering and work in open source; I am only cleared by my doctor to work 15h/wk (from bed) as of writing.

***

CW: severe illness, death, and suicide (skip this section)

The difficulty of living with a chronic illness is that there's no light at the end of the tunnel. Some diseases have a clear treatment path: you take the medications, you complete the procedures, you hit all the milestones, and then you're done, perhaps with some long-term maintenance work. But with ME, there isn't really an end in sight. The median duration of illness reported in one 1997 study was over 6 years, with some patients reporting 20 years of symptoms.13 While a small number of patients spontaneously recover, and many improve, the vast majority of patients are unable to regain their baseline function.14

My greatest fear since losing the ability to walk is getting worse still. Because, while I already require assistance with nearly every activity of daily living, there is still room for decline. The prognosis for extremely ill patients is dismal, and many require feeding tubes and daily nursing care. This may lead to life-threatening malnutrition;15 a number of these extremely severe patients have died, either due to medical neglect or suicide.16 Extremely severe patients cannot tolerate light, sound, touch, or cognitive exertion,17 and often spend most of their time lying flat in a darkened room with ear muffs or an eye mask.18

This is all to say, my prognosis is not great.

But while I recognize that the odds aren't exactly in my favour, I am also damn stubborn. (A friend once cheerfully described me as "stubbornly optimistic!") I only get one shot at life, and I do not want to spend the entirety of it barely able to perceive what's going on around me. So while my prognosis is uncertain, there's lots of evidence that I can improve somewhat,19 and there's also lots of evidence that I can live 20+ years with this disease. It's a bitter pill to swallow, but it also means I might have the gift of time—something that not all my friends with severe complex illnesses have had.

I feel like I owe it to myself to do the best I can to improve; to try to help others in a similar situation; and to enjoy the time that I have. I already feel like my life has been moving in slow motion for the past 4 years—there's no need to add more suffering. Finding joy, as much as I can, every day, is essential to keep up my strength for this marathon. Even if it takes 20 years to find a cure, I am convinced that the standard of care is going to improve. All the research and advocacy that's been happening over the past decade is plenty to feel hopeful about.20 Hope is a discipline,21 and I try to remind myself of this on the hardest days.

***

I'm not entirely sure why I decided to write this. Certainly, today is International ME/CFS Awareness Day, and I'm hoping this post will raise awareness in spaces that aren't often thinking about chronic illnesses. But I think there is also a part of me that wants to share, reach out in some way to the people I've lost contact with while I've been treading water, managing the day to day of my illness. I experience this profound sense of loss, especially when I think back to the life I had before. Everyone hits limitations in what they can do and accomplish, but there is so little I can do with the time and energy that I have. And yet, I understand even this precious little could still be less. So I pace myself.

Perhaps I can inspire you to take action on behalf of those of us too fatigued to do the advocacy we need and deserve. Should you donate to a charity or advocacy organization supporting ME/CFS research? In the US, there are many excellent organizations, such as ME Action, the Open Medicine Foundation, SolveME, the Bateman Horne Center, and the Workwell Foundation. I am also happy to match any donations through the end of May 2024 if you send me your receipts. But charitable giving only goes so far, and I think this problem deserves the backing of more powerful organizations.

Proportionate government funding and support is desperately needed. It's critical for us to push governments22 to provide the funding required for research that will make an impact on patients' lives now. Many organizers are running campaigns around the world, advocating for this investment. There is a natural partnership between ME advocacy and Long COVID advocacy, for example, and we have an opportunity to make a great difference to many people by pushing for research and resources inclusive of all PASCs. Some examples I'm aware of include:

• [US] A Long COVID "moonshot" effort, drafted in April 2024 by Senator Sanders. Contact your representatives and encourage them to support it. Ask them to ensure the effort includes support for ME/CFS and other related conditions and PASCS.
• [Canada] National ME/FM Action recommended participation in public budget consultation processes and made a submission. Though the 2024 consultation is closed, you can still contact your MP to improve awareness and advocate for budgetary support. It may also be worth contacting your MLA to advocate for better PASC care in provincial clinics.
• [UK] Action for ME is advocating for a cross-Government Delivery Plan for ME/CFS care in England. Contact your MP and encourage them to support it.
• [Other] MEAction also regularly hosts government advocacy campaigns in the US, UK, and Scotland.

But outside of collective organizing, there are a lot of sick individuals out there that need help, too. Please, don't forget about us. We need you to visit us, care for us, be our confidantes, show up as friends. There are a lot of people who are very sick out here and need your care.

I'm one of them.